Filipino Folk Dance in the Academy: Embodied Research in the Work of Francesca Reyes Aquino, Sally Ann Ness, and Benildanze

This article addresses the work of researchers Francesca Reyes Aquino, Sally Ann Ness and Benildanze, all of whom use embodied practices to study Filipino folk dance in the academy but with divergent methodologies: Aquino uses ethnography, Ness phenomenology, and Benildanze practice as research. It examines the processes by which dances have moved from functioning rituals to representative artifacts and research tools. These processes reveal a complex and constantly developing relationship between dance and the academy.